Small cracks when welding 1,5 mm aluminum

AndersK · Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:17 am

Sometimes when welding 1,5 mm (0,059") I get small cracks along the seam. Welding 3003 (I think, 1050A its called here) 55-75 amps, tried 4043 and 5356 filler.
I grind down the welds almost flush and then planish with hammer, then it sometimes cracks. Not swinging the hammer as a blacksmith

Any ideas where it goes wrong?

It happens occasionally and I havent figured out why.

kiwi2wheels · Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:58 am

You could try using 1100 rod, better for ductility. It will make working the material a whole lot easier.

http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/support/up ... -Chart.pdf

AndersK · Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:53 pm

Thanks, have been looking for other fillers like 1050 and 1100 but couldn't find them locally. Need to try harder...
I just dropped a question to my closest decent weld shop, which is 80 km away. Not listed but I've had luck before...

Markus · Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:45 pm

Hello neighbour

Weird problem due to fact that it's well weldable grade.
-Did you clean the metal before welding?
-Any gas leaks possible in your TIG?

AndersK · Mon Sep 15, 2014 2:26 pm

Hi brother, strange seing a "Finn" with an ESAB logo

Should be like swearing in the church in the land of Kemppi

-Did you clean the metal before welding?
Yes, light sanding and wiped with acetone.

-Any gas leaks possible in your TIG?
Possible but not an obvious problem since welds were clean.
Even had good results on corners where gas coverage was poor.

Some welds had poor penetration but I fused backside before hammering.

This was a while ago and with my older TIG (Gysmi) which was little difficult to weld alu with, aggressive start and no external amperage control. Got to think about it today while reading an other post about 4043 problem.

Need to get back to it trying my newer machine, but I suspect its more about whos holding the torch

Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:03 pm

If you're welding 3003 as the base metal, the rods you're using are too hard. I'll wager the cracks you're seeing are at the edge of the weld, not the center.

The shrinkage of the 4043 and the 5356 overwhelms the 3003, and the cracks appear at the interface, right?

The suggested 1100 series is going to be the better rod for that application.

Steve S

AndersK · Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:36 pm

Sorry about the material confusion, it is 1050A. Someone told me 1050A is our name for 3003 but I just looked it up and the EN-numbering is the same as your AA-standard.

But youre probably right about the shrinkage anyway.
And yes, the rods are hard compared to the base material. I normally only use a vixen file to take the welds down and you can sure feel the difference.

I cant say if the cracks were center or edges. They became visible after surface finnishing (180 grit sanding) so I couldnt see what had been center or edge.

When I bought the sheets I asked for 5052, but realised later it wasnt, 5356 would have been better for that, right?

Markus · Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:48 pm

AndersK wrote:Hi brother, strange seing a "Finn" with an ESAB logo
Should be like swearing in the church in the land of Kemppi

-Did you clean the metal before welding?
Yes, light sanding and wiped with acetone.

-Any gas leaks possible in your TIG?
Possible but not an obvious problem since welds were clean.
Even had good results on corners where gas coverage was poor.

Some welds had poor penetration but I fused backside before hammering.

This was a while ago and with my older TIG (Gysmi) which was little difficult to weld alu with, aggressive start and no external amperage control. Got to think about it today while reading an other post about 4043 problem.

Need to get back to it trying my newer machine, but I suspect its more about whos holding the torch

Perhaps the logo, because Esab is nowadays owned by americans

You fools why did you sell it?? Don't get me wrong I'm Kemppi fan and I think they does great machines, but when choosing between TIG, Esab is the right choise. After all it's foolish to denie facts, just like Volvos are good cars and Finns are better in Ice hockey, right

Hälsningar!
Markus

AndersK · Tue Sep 16, 2014 12:49 am

Yeah, foolish but today everything is only about how to wrinkle as much cash as possible out of your operations in short time.
Volvo cars, well not my choice, and they are chinese now.
Finns better in hockey, seriously

Vedma24 · Tue Sep 16, 2014 4:16 am

Hi Anders. After what i heard, the 1050 Alu, that we have here in Sweden, you should use 1100 rod, cause the 4043 and 5356 make weld to hard, to work on, and will crack. I bought all 3 types of rods, and in different dia, have not tryed them all out yet, since im prepairing my shop. I bought my rods in a store in Uppsala, by weight, since a hole package of each would have been too much and expensive. According to my catalogs from the Metalstores here in Uppsala, 3003 is also availible, but it's not in stock. Very important also to clean welding area, with ex an stainless steel brush, only used for Alu, to break the oxide. Not a pro, haven't weld Alu a lot, But i weld under licence in the early 80's so some knowledge i have..

//Tomas..

Markus · Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:20 pm

AndersK wrote:Yeah, foolish but today everything is only about how to wrinkle as much cash as possible out of your operations in short time.
Volvo cars, well not my choice, and they are chinese now.
Finns better in hockey, seriously

It's shame that nowadays everything must be done as quick as possible. Sometimes it feels like quality doesn't mean anything

Globen nittiofem

AndersK · Tue Sep 16, 2014 4:20 pm

Vedma24 wrote:Hi Anders. After what i heard, the 1050 Alu, that we have here in Sweden, you should use 1100 rod, cause the 4043 and 5356 make weld to hard, to work on, and will crack. I bought all 3 types of rods, and in different dia, have not tryed them all out yet, since im prepairing my shop. I bought my rods in a store in Uppsala, by weight, since a hole package of each would have been too much and expensive. According to my catalogs from the Metalstores here in Uppsala, 3003 is also availible, but it's not in stock. Very important also to clean welding area, with ex an stainless steel brush, only used for Alu, to break the oxide. Not a pro, haven't weld Alu a lot, But i weld under licence in the early 80's so some knowledge i have.. //Tomas..

Welcome here brother

Sounds like I need to get some of those rods and try. Uppsala is quite a drive though. 600 km one way....
Else I'll cut some strips from a 1050 sheet to use as filler

Markus wrote:Globen nittiofem

Ok, I'll give you that one